Rotten Tomatoes' archeology, conservation and ranking work has made Citizen Kane not the highest rated film in history, according to their criteria and now it is Paddington 2. At least according to how the website works.
Many of us know Rotten Tomatoes as the best-known movie review website by condensing the reviews of movies and series published in recognized media. They do an enormous job of preserving and searching so that any official criticism of a film is compiled, archived and cataloged. His work has made Citizen Kane, today considered one of the most important films of all time, not considered the best film of all time.
A negative review of Citizen Kane from 80 years ago appears
They recently discovered a negative review of Citizen Kane published in the Chicago Tribune in 1941 by Mae Tinee that said that "It failed to impress critics as the best movie ever«. And we must not forget that although today it is considered a masterpiece, the film was vilified and hated until it was re-released in theaters in the mid-50s. And how does this affect the film on Rotten Tomatoes?
Tinee's review was quietly added to the Rotten Tomatoes website and dropped Citizen Kane's acceptance rate from 100% to 99%. This is because the web does not look for reviews rated with numbers, but rather rates them if they are positive or not. From the reviews collected, a percentage is calculated based on the number of positive reviews. Now, according to Rotten Tomatoes, the best film in the world is Paddington 2, released in 2017 and which received unanimous positive reviews, although very surely not as laudable and exaggeratedly positive as those of Citizen Kane.
Removing the curiosity that now Citizen Kane is not perceived as a perfect film, it demonstrates the importance of searching, preserving and cataloging content related to current culture. Today the Orson Welles film is known as a beloved by the public. But the context in which it was released is largely forgotten and it was not recognized until more than a decade later.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
